TWO thousand extra NHS dental places are due to become available in Tavistock over the next year.

The places are being made available as a result of a new dentist working from the Associated Dental Practice in Tavistock.

This news has been warmly welcomed by town leaders and West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox who have been campaigning for more NHS dental care in the borough.

Andrew Harris, who manages dentistry provision in Devon said: 'It is great news that more people in Tavistock will be able to see an NHS dentist.

'We have been working hard to reach a point where nobody in Devon has to wait for an NHS dentist and the extra 2,000 places will go a long way to achieving this.'

There are now two NHS practices in West Devon, the other being JD Hull and Associates in Okehampton, where provision has also recently been expanded.

Associated Dental Practices (ADP) opened a practice at West Devon Borough Council's Kilworthy Park offices almost two years ago to meet the needs of West Devon residents who did not have access to an NHS dentist.

The borough council worked with the Devon Primary Care Trust to provide the new service.

Mr Harris said the practice was close to reaching the initial 6,000 patient target: 'Just under 6,000 patients have been seen in two years but now we are extending that capacity to enable the practice to take on more patients,' said Mr Harris.

Mr Cox said he had been campaigning for a long time to get extra dental places in West Devon.

'The decision by the borough council to open the surgery in its offices was really a substantial step forward.

'I had letters, until very recently, from people still finding it hard to locate an NHS practitioner, so I am very pleased that the PCT is going to increase the capacity by 2,000 places,' he said.

Mayor of West Devon Alison Clish-Green said she was a great fan of the NHS but people had been disillusioned in the last few years, particularly because of the lack of dentists.

'Anything that can be done to improve the NHS and dentistry in particular is important because we live in an area where wages are low and house prices are high.

'People are strapped for cash and cannot afford to pay high prices for healthcare.'

Health minister Ann Keen said: 'Dentists working in the NHS treat around 250,000 patients every working day and our aim is to ensure that everyone who wants to see an NHS dentist can by March 2011.

'So far we have invested over £2-billion in NHS dentistry resulting in more NHS dental practices expanding and opening all the time.

'The tide is turning and we are now seeing access to NHS dentistry starting to increase.'

Anyone wishing to become a patient at the Tavistock practice should contact the NHS dental help-line on 0845 002 0034. The help-line is also there for patients who have an urgent problem and are without a regular dentist.

Patients who require care outside normal working hours should contact 01392 823 682.